To reach and teach people “where they are,” the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services challenged designers to create a “health literate app” for use on mobile devices (cell phones and tablets). This builds on health content from ODPHP’s consumer-oriented website about prevention, www.healthfinder.gov
This podcast is with the co-leader’s of ODPHP’s Mobile App Challenge:
- Ellen Langhans (right, in the photo) is the healthfinder.gov Program Manager at ODPHP. Her role is to ensure the use of plain language and health literacy principles in healthfinder.gov along with its outreach and marketing materials.
- Silje Lier is a Communication Advisor at ODPHP. She manages the outreach community for healthfinder.gov. She also supports outreach for many ODPHP initiatives including Healthy People 2020, Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and the National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy.
In this podcast, Ellen Langhans and Silje Lier talk with Helen Osborne about:
- How people use mobile devices to access health information.
- What ODPHP’s Mobile App Challenge was and how it led to the development of an app that is creative, functional, and consistent with health literacy principles.
- Good app features to include action-oriented content, longevity (capacity for the app to grow and change), and functions that keep users engaged.
More Ways to Learn:
- ODPHP’s website, http://www.healthfinder.gov
- About the “myfamily” app from Healthfinder.gov. http://www.hhs.gov/digitalstrategy/mobile/healthfinder-app.html
- To download the myfamily app, go to the app store on your mobile device.
- Broderick J, Devine T, Langhans E, Lemerise AJ, Lier S, Harris L, “Designing Health Literate Mobile Apps.” An IOM Discussion Paper, published January 28, 2014. PDF available at http://www.iom.edu/~/media/Files/Perspectives-Files/2014/Discussion-Papers/BPH-HealthLiterateApps.pdf
- You can find much more information about health communication, health literacy & e-health from health.gov, at http://health.gov/communication/literacy/#reportshttp://health.gov/communication/literacy/#resources
Health Literacy from A to Z: Practical Ways to Communicate Your Health Message, Second Edition (Updated 2018), by Helen Osborne. Relevant chapters include: 27, 34, 36.
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